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Customer Reviews of International Piano

The 'Gramophone' of Piano Periodicals
This glossy British magazine about all things having to do with the piano, particularly performances, CDs, and DVDs, is a must for piano fanatics. You know who you are. It is a bit pricey, particularly in these days of the weak dollar, but I was fortunate to have been given a gift subscription by a generous friend. When the subscription expires, though, I intend to plunk down my own money to keep it coming to me. Let me give you an idea of its usual contents. To do so I will simply outline the fairly typical contents of a current issue (March-April 2005). <
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>KEY THOUGHTS (clever title,eh?): A Letters column. Generally the letter-writers are a very well informed lot. KEY NOTES: Short squibs about pianistic matters. In this issue there is mention of Lazar Berman's death, the premire of a 'new' Beethoven work by Ronald Brautigam, a festival featuring newly written piano pieces that last one minute or less, the first broadcast of the newly reconstructed Elgar Piano Concerto, and a funny article about an Ohio police chief who was awakened from a sound sleep by the sounds of a Beethoven sonata being played on his own piano only discover a drunken local teen who had wandered in thinking it was a friend's house. The police chief commented that he played really well, but he charged him with under-age drinking and burglary. COMPETITION NEWS: A regular column giving information for potential competitors and attendees. CONCERTS AND EVENTS: Just what it says. <
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>An interview with young Yevgeny Sudbin, a Russian pianist just coming to attention in the West. An in-depth interview with Richard Goode. An article about a private collection of historic pianos which is open to the public; pianists are invited to play them. An article by Joseph Moreno for pianists about playing double notes, richly illustrated with examples from scores by Rachmaninoff, Chopin-Godowsky, Bartók and more. An interview in depth with British pianist Roger Vignoles, surely one of the great accompanists (or collaborative pianists, as we Americans have sometimes begun to call them). An article by Murray McLachlan about playing chords, with illustrations from Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and some very insightful and helpful comments. A marvelous article about the nearly-forgotten Polish pianist, Witold Malcuzynski. An article about the Aeolian Company, maker early in the 20th-century of play pianos. <
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>The second part of a major article by Dmitry Rachmanov in which almost 300 (!) recordings of Chopin's Ballade in F Minor are compared. Fascinating and insightful. <
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>An article, with interview, of Vladimir Feltsman. An article about the Gina Bachauer International Junior Piano Competition (with some rather disingenuous comments about how piano competitions are not as odious as some think). <
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>A round-up of concerts both in New York and London. Numerous CD reviews, followed by some DVD reviews and then a section on vintage re-issues. Reviews of some new sheet music issues (including an interesting note about a new edition by Murray Perahia and Norbert Gertsch of the Beethoven Op. 31, No. 1 Sonata ). Short reviews of piano-related books. A last page regular column called 'Programme Notes,' this one written by British pianist Paul Lewis in which he talks about the influences leading to his newly emerging recordings of the complete Beethoven sonatas. <
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>There are many piano-related ads, including some classifieds. 'International Piano' has about 80 pages. Nicely edited, although there are a few typos. <
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>This is definitely a must for those of us who want to keep on top of what is happening in the piano world. Recommended. <
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>Scott Morrison